The Reader
by ImmortalRoseOfTheThorns
Summary: SLASH. When it came down to it, he was everything to me. Nothing else mattered, expect his face, him, the sound of my name on his lips. It was wrong to love him but I couldn't bring myself to care. I wished it to last forever...I was wrong again HPDM


**I got the idea for this after watching The Reader with my mama and sis. Just when I was going to sleep, I was struck with this idea, and it made it that I couldn't sleep for hours until I had most of the story in my head! It is set in different time zones and different points of view, but hopefully it is obvious what person and what time zone. If not, tell me and I will explain. A lot of it is monologue type writing and a few parts, mainly the Harry with Draco parts are not written in this type. Once again, ask me if you are confused.**

**WARNINGS: male/male relationships, adultery, intimate scenes, language, character death, angst, hints of MPREG, OOCness**

**Disclaimer: Anything you see here that you recognise doesn't belong to me. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, Great Expectations belongs to Charles Dickens, and the sonnet (I don't know its name) belongs to William Shakespeare**

* * *

**The Reader**

"_Read to me"_

"_Hmmm?" Harry raised his head, leaning on his elbow, cupping his chin with his left hand. He smiled in contentment. A pale hand drifted across his back, tracing circles, and unknown shapes, outlining the scars that littered his back._

"_Read to me" Harry frowned, his emerald eyes not angry, but slightly confused._

_  
"Why do you want me to read to you?" the blond shrugged, merely raising his mercury eyes to finally look deep into Harry's. "Please?"_

_Harry blinked for a few moments, still not entirely sure why, before he smiled. He raised himself up slightly, and out of the blonds tangled embrace, and climbed out of the bed. The blond grumbled at his paramours exit, pulling the sheet more over his naked form. His equally naked lover crouched down, searching through the blonds surprisingly small bookcase for a book, that he wished for him to read._

_He picked up a black tome, frayed at the edges, obviously old, but was currently being read, shown by the bookmark. Nodding in satisfaction, he returned back to the bed. He had barely lain back down, before the blond reclaimed their embrace; an arm around his waist, a leg thrown over his hips. This did not anger Harry. He smiled lovingly at him, the blond replying smiling albeit shyer._

"_Anything particular?" The blond shook his head, closing his eyes, his arms trapping Harry against him, only letting him move his arms to read the book. Harry nodded in understanding, before opening the book at a random page. He cleared his throat and began to read "From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease…"_

**{****~~}**

That was the first time I had ever read to Draco. After our second union. Not too long after the words first began to leave my lips, that Draco began to close his eyes, his breath slowing down; almost like a lullaby would for a baby, my words, my reciting of a Muggle sonnet, lulled him to sleep.

Almost every time we made love after that, I read to him. Sometimes before, sometimes after. Sometimes when the thought of making love where far from our minds, and it was one of the few days I could leave my life, and just bask in his company for however long I wished for. The times that were always scarce.

My relationship with Draco was brief, but the most intense relationship possible. My marriage to Ginny, and the few brief relationships I had before I settled down with her, where nowhere near as passionate, as tempting. As breathtaking. It was like me and Draco were made to be together. We fit together perfectly. During that time I believed we were soul mates.

Even though we spent our entire teens, a few years before and a few years after, almost willing to kill each other, when we were together then, the past, present and future melted away. It was merely Us and Now. Almost the minute we were reunited.

It had been a great shock of mine to see Draco Malfoy, Muggle hater, and well renowned Slytherin Prince, walking around a Muggle supermarket, on an unusually sunny day. I was thirty-two years old and…happily married, and had been for eight years, and I had been there, desperate for normal food, since for the past few weeks beforehand, Ginny had entered a new fad to try and help herself get pregnant (something that was still unsuccessful after six years). I only had a few hours while she went baby shopping with Hermione (for Hermione's third child thankfully) to eat the normal food and remove all traces. Such Muggle processed food was obviously the cause of Harry's so called sterility.

The moment I saw him though, all thoughts of unhealthy food and babies left my mind. I had no such need for food, or even breathing as long as I could look at him forever.

First, I was in awe. He was beautiful. Breathtaking. His hair was still platinum, but no longer slicked back flat onto his head as it was in our teens. It fell softly past his chin and into his eyes, and he twitched his head to move them out of the way occasionally. He wore Muggle clothes, as casual as my own, which shocked me first. And though he was down at the end of the aisle I was in myself, I could see his eyes. The burning, haunting mercury silver that had shown nothing but hatred to me for years, and then the small signs of respect.

Secondly, I was shocked. This was Draco Malfoy. I knew it. Even from a distance, after twenty, maybe thirty years, I would always know who Draco Malfoy was. Even if he was grey, frayed and old as Dumbledore was, I would know that it was him. But this man seemed nothing like Draco I knew. His shoulders were slumped, not held proudly. He was thin, his face gaunt, and he was paler than ever. Immediately I needed to know, how and why this had happened to him.

I had never been this attracted to a male before. Sometimes an odd one caught my eye. They were so contrasting to soft skin, the smooth curves and the ample breast that was Ginny and my previous female lovers. But Malfoy, I was immediately panting for him. I could tell I wanted him.

I had been shoved and sworn at by some people who walked by me, where I had frozen by the food upon catching sight of him. One particularly loud comment is what made him see me.

He glanced up, most likely thinking it was Muggles fighting over food. When he saw it was me, he froze. Like an angelic statue, he gazed at me, too far from me to gauge his emotions. But he didn't seem afraid, or angry or shocked. He seemed…empty.

**{****~~}**

_Harry snarled. "I don't know what the number is! That's why I'm asking. What flat does a Mr Draco Malfoy live in?!"_

_The man reeking of sweat, and dirt, and looking like he was covered in it as well, grunted, before glancing down at a book. "He's in number thirty two" he jerked his head to the stairs. "Fifth floor"_

_Taking that as his cue to leave, Harry bound forward, not even bothering to thank the concierge. He obviously didn't care about it either._

_After almost a full two minutes staring at each other, Draco had split. Dropping his small basket of shopping, causing the carton of milk to explode over the floor, causing several more insults. Ones that increased when Harry dropped his own basket and ran after the blond._

_The chase had gone on for a few streets across heavy traffic, until Harry had ran into a small estate, Draco running into the nearest apartment housing. All through it all, Harry wondered why he merely didn't Apparate in one of the many alleys they had passed._

_Harry banged on Number Thirty Two, again and again, praying that this was the blonds apartment. He didn't know what possessed him to chase the blond, but he knew that if he saw him, he would know._

_Hermione always said that he had a weird obsession with the Malfoy heir. Now he was willing to admit it._

_The door opened, seemingly by its own, showing no one behind it. Harry entered the tiny apartment, to see already three rooms. He entered the living room, which seemed to double as a bedroom from the large double bed that was produced by the tatty sofa. It also was an office, a large mahogany desk that Harry believed to be second-hand, with a bookcase beside it. An open door was seen on the other side of the room, showing a bathroom. The closed door beside it was, Harry assumed, the kitchen._

_That barely fazed Harry as he caught sight of Draco on the opposite side of the bed._

_Plump lips the colour of roses, obviously as soft as they seemed, he was smaller than Harry, small enough to be pulled into his arms, and held there. A soft face, long exotic looking but pale eyelashes fluttering against his high cheekbones, as he tried to keep his gaze from Harry by staring at the worn carpet._

"_Malfoy" Harry breathed._

"…_P…Potter"_

**{****~~}**

I had stayed less for five minutes, already my mind aching, my heart fluttering, and my groin tightening. We hadn't done anything, merely stood there, a few whispered words and sentences, nothing normal, but nothing out of the ordinary either. Stared at each other, but never meeting each others gaze.

I made it my duty afterwards to find out everything that had happened to the Malfoy's, Draco personally after the war between the Light and the Dark, the Malfoy's being Dark through most of it. I yearned to know why a Malfoy was living in such squalor. Why that Malfoy seemed broken.

He was stuck in my head non-stop for days. And when Ginny begged for one last attempt at making a baby, I pictured Draco in my head. Imagining taking him, making him so more expressive than the comatose clone I had seen of him. I pictured Draco Malfoy, while making love to my wife. During my daughters conception.

**{****~~}**

_Harry coughed and spluttered into his hand, leaning against the lamppost, knowing either cold, flu or pneumonia was going to strike him soon. The rain, if anything, increased in tempo. He was already soaked through, his shirt and trousers sticking to him almost like a second skin. He could feel the water run down his back, and soaking his underwear. He wished he had Apparated straight home, instead of walking halfway to try and catch the elusive blond._

_He shook his shaggy hair from his eyes, grateful that he no longer needed glasses, lessening the blur to his eyes from the water. He staggered down the streets for God knows how long, before a hand, smaller but just as strong as his own, grabbed his bicep and began to pull him. He was up to the disoriented stage so bad that he didn't care who was leading him or where they were leading him too. He just wanted warmth, warmth and sleep._

_Both of those thoughts were gone the second he heard his rescuer speak, words drifting in and out of his ears. __"Come on…Potter! Keep up…hypothermia…don't have my wand…don't know…can use yours…"_

_Draco._

_After a while, of trying to engage the blond in conversation, Harry found himself being told to strip and get into the already boiling bath water. Harry couldn't be quicker to comply._

_He groaned, easing his body into the hot water, his eyelashes fluttering from the pleasure it gave him. The tub was small, but the water was hot, and deep, and he felt jolts of warmth spreading from his toes all the way to his head. He groaned, ducking his head underwater._

_Well, he had found Draco. He had even been brought back to his flat, so he wouldn't die outside. He just couldn't help but ask why the blond had helped him. Oh god, Draco..._

_He shot back up in the bath, gasping, his wet hair clinging to his face. His hands shot down to his lap. Dammit. He pushed down, trying to quench his growing erection. For months since he saw him in the market, he had been almost plagued by fantasies of the blond, being forced to sort out the problems himself, being too guilty to sleep with Ginny. His lovely beautiful wife. He couldn't make love to her when another person, a man, plagued his thoughts._

"_I got you a towel" Harry started at the sound of Draco's voice. He glanced to open door, where Draco stood holding out a large blue towel, his head turned in the opposite direction, his pale cheeks flushed ever so slightly pink._

"_Thanks" Harry muttered. Making sure the blond was looking away, and his hands were covering his lap, he stepped out of the bath. He grabbed the towel from Draco's hands, and wrapped it around himself, trying to cover as much flesh as possible. He glanced up, when he deemed himself covered, and all his blood rushed south._

_Draco was staring at him, eyes wide and glazed over. His eyes roved over Harry's body, freezing at his lap. A soft, pink tongue flicked out, licking his lips._

_Harry snapped. He let the towel fall to the ground and marched the next few steps to reach the blond. Draco's eyes widened and he flushed bright red at the sight of Harry's naked body, but before he could make any move or speak, Harry grabbed him roughly, and slammed him against the wall, catching his lips in a rough, yet passionate kiss. Draco made a needy whimper, his hands buried in the brunets wet locks._

_The next few minutes passed in a blur, of heated kisses, naked skin, soft moans, torn clothes on Draco's part, before Harry dropped the blond onto the bed, smirking as he writhed and whimpered at the loss, before he bore down upon him._

_The first time was full of passion, lust and desire. Harry thrust deep into Draco, catching his every breath, moan and cry, feeding his ego. His fingernails dug deep into Harry's bronzed shoulders, his legs tight around his waist, clenching with every thrust, his tongue in his mouth, his erection in his hand._

_Draco threw his head back and screamed his climax, Harry following soon after. They collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily, just tangled limbs._

_The next was overwhelming, slow and hard, Harry drawing out every possible sound from Draco. Harry buried his face into his collarbone, slowly rotating his hips, praying that this would never end._

**{****~~}**

That led to a three-week separation. Ginny had fallen down the stairs the day after I slept with Draco, and had been taken in St Mungo's for observation for over a fortnight. I had spent every day by her bedside, wanting to make sure my wife and daughter were safe. My obsession with Draco had taken over the last few years of my time at Hogwarts and now it threatened to ruin my new life and marriage.

I didn't want my daughter to be raised in a broken home. My parents couldn't raise me and I would make sure me and Ginny would both raise our daughter together. She would have everything and anything she needed and wanted, with both me and Ginny to provide it for her.

A week after Ginny came home, with an all clear and a newly kicking baby safe inside her, I went back to Draco. And so our affair started. Me leaving Ginny for a few hours most days, sometimes every day. Pretending I had long hours at the Ministry, and that if I wanted that promotion I had to show willing to cooperate with the hours. She was too lost in pregnancy bliss to care. As long as I was there at night and for doctors appointments. To tell her she was beautiful with a swollen belly and stretch marks across it. That yes, I would still desire her when she had given birth.

I spent all the time at home doting on her every need. I was falling in love with Draco, and years ago had fallen out of love with Ginny. But she still loved me so much, the guilt was too much, that I felt dirty for treating her so bad.

She didn't deserve someone like me.

**{****~~}**

"_A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he-" _

_"Harry?"_

_Harry stopped reading and looked at the blond. Harry was sitting, nude as usual, against the back of the sofa bed, the sheets strewn across him, while Draco stood in his underwear at the foot of the bed._

"_Yeah?"_

_Draco took a deep breath, before answering. "You married the Weasley girl" It wasn't a question, but still Harry answered with a yes, and a nod. They never spoke of Harry's personal life apart from things he was getting up to at work, or even things in the Muggle world as Draco grew silent most times magic was mentioned, once saying how he had turned his back on that world. Harry always removed his wedding ring, though Draco knew it existed, knew he was married but he never said who to. "How long ago?"_

"_Almost nine years" Harry replied, putting the book down, not in the mood to read. He actually felt a bit nauseous. "She's pregnant as well. About six and a half months"_

_Something flashed in Draco's eyes. "That was when I first saw you again". Harry merely nodded._

_Draco took a deep shuddering breath, before sitting at the end of the bed, facing away from the brunette. His shoulders began to shake, making Harry crawl towards him, hugging him from behind. Draco was stiff in his arms._

"_Dray...Dray," he repeated as Draco still refused to relinquish his posture, his head bowed so Harry couldn't see his face. He pressed open mouth kisses on the blonds neck and shoulders. The blond squirmed. Harry sighed, his head on Draco's shoulder._

"_Do you want me to leave?" Harry asked. Draco started and spun round, crawling into Harry's lap, his head shaking frantically._

"_No, no, no" he repeated again and again, pressing sloppy kisses to his jaw. Harry blinked in confusion at the squirming blond. "Don't leave me, don't ever leave me" he muttered, his head buried in Harry's shoulder._

"_Ok, ok". Harry rubbed circles on the blonds back soothingly. "I won't leave you, I promise"_

_Draco sighed, relaxing entirely against Harry's body. He let Harry caress and massage his back, as he muttered sweet nothings in his ear, and kissing him tenderly._

"_Do you love me?"_

"…_Yes, Draco...I think I do". Draco replied by hugging him even tighter to his body._

**{****~~}**

_Harry sighed, dropping his bag onto the sofa, rubbing his sore neck. His house was not particularly large, like places like Grimmauld Place, which he kept empty as Ginny thought it was unsafe for a child; inwardly he agreed, and the Burrow, but it was large enough for him, Ginny and their daughter. It only had the three bedrooms, one already transferred into a nursery, two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. It was in a Muggle area in the middle of London, and sadly far away from any of Ginny's family. But they were happy there._

_Until he became adulterous._

"_Gin?"_

"_I'm in the bath!" she called from upstairs. Harry nodded to himself, taking his coat off and throwing it onto the banister. He climbed the stairs to the open bathroom door._

_Ginny lay in the bath, full of bubbles, her protruding stomach floating on the top, which she stroked frequently. Her wet fire coloured hair clung to her cheeks and down her back. She smiled up at him, brightly, her eyes shining. Harry felt a sharp pain in his heart._

"_Hey, beautiful" he muttered, kissing her on the lips, then just above her belly button, making her giggle before he sat on the damp floor of the bathroom. He leant his head back against the tub, so he could still see her._

"_How was work?" she asked._

"_The same. Work" he said, stroking her stomach. His daughter kicked against his hand, and he couldn't help but smile. "She's going strong in there"_

_Ginny nodded, her beautiful face marred in a frown. "Aren't you enjoying work anymore, Harry?" she asked. Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing what was coming next. "I can't wait to get back to work. I miss the Harpies" Harry drifted off while she sped into her usual speech about her Holyhead Harpies. How of course she wanted to go back as soon as possible. But oh, she didn't wish to leave the baby too soon after it was born. Maybe a year or less, she'll have to see how it will go._

"_Yeah" Harry interrupted. "But playing Quidditch is different to having to go in six days a week, go on different raids all the time AND have to do mountains of paperwork and teach trainees on top of it"_

"_How about staying at home all day, having a life inside me that needs constant sustenance? Struggling to always sit up and sit back down again? I haven't been able to see my toes for the last week!" Ginny cried._

_Harry sighed as the usual argument of her pregnancy came up. He knew he would never truly understand what she was going through._

"_Have you thought of any names for her?"_

"_No" Ginny snapped. She sighed, sinking further into the bath. "Have you?"_

"_Alba. Name her Alba"_

**(~~)**

I never knew much about how Draco got to where he was. He had no job, no obvious source of income. Yes, he was an heir to a large pure-blooded family. But then he would be living in a large manor house, wouldn't he? Not a flat in a rundown estate.

I was the only person who seemed to visit him or even make contact. I often wondered where Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson were in his life. If they were still as close as they were at school. If Draco had anyone besides me at all in his life...

So I decided to investigate.

Pansy was living in France with a very prestige pure blooded family she had married into for money. I had seen her husband: money would be the only reason any would marry the obnoxious, gargantuan drunk. Blaise was in Scotland with his own fiancée, who to my surprise was my own lost long friend Luna Lovegood. Ginny had refused to speak to her over five years ago, Ron following suit. I had lost contact with the elusive blond, though I tried in vain to try and contact her. Obviously now I knew why.

She loved a bloody Slytherin.

What was going to happen to my life now I'm with Draco?

I always knew I would lose Ginny if I carried on, I would be pushed out of a large proportion of my daughters life. I always knew not entirely: Ginny would never be as cruel as that. She would do it for her sake. I didn't know about anyone else.

But I found out early.

**(~~)**

**Alba Molly Potter. 03/08/2013. 7lbs 6oz**

"_Aw, she's so cute!" Angelina Weasley cried, cooing over the bundle in Harry's arms. He couldn't help but agree. His daughter...was beautiful. She had Ginny's red hair, he could tell already by the soft strands upon her head, but she had his eyes. Soft burning green that gazed up at him, with love already he hoped._

_He kissed the top of her head, and she made a soft mewl, her tiny hands clutching into fists._

"_Bloody hell, mate, it's about time" Ron laughed at the brunet._

"_Yeah well, not everyone can have three in eight years" Harry snapped, not being able to help the coldness in his voice. Ron frowned, the hurt evident in his eyes, while Angelina ignored it, babbling on about how her and George had to have another one now. Harry couldn't help but look at Hermione, who was regarding him with an icy indifference, staring him down._

_She knew._

_**(~~)**_

"_How could you do this, Harry?! To Ginny?! To the baby?!" Hermione hissed._

"_I don't know-"_

"_I mean, how could you be so stupid? So – so selfish?! Malfoy?! MALFOY?!"_

"_I'm sorry" Harry muttered._

"_End it now"_

"_Yes"_

**(~~)**

The affair continued for another six months.

**[~~]**

"_I love you" Draco whispered, his hands pulling Harry's hair, almost painfully. He keened and arched his back into the brunet's chest, as Harry slammed hard into his willing body__._

_Harry moaned in response, grabbing the blonds hips hand to angle his thrusts, "I love you" he growled into his shoulder. "Mine!"_

_Draco cried out with every thrust, repeating 'I love you' over and over again like a mantra into Harry's ear._

_Another thrust and a tug on the blonds erection, and he yelled his release to the world, cumming all over Harry's stomach, bringing the brunet down with him._

"_I love you" he muttered one last time, and Harry finally let sleep claim him, wrapping his arm around the pliant blond._

_**(~~)**_

_He awoke with a start, he didn't know how much later. He rubbed his eyes with a hand, wondering why he had woken so abruptly. Then he noticed that the bed was cold and Draco was gone and had been for a while if the freezing cold sheets were anything to go by._

_Then he noticed that Draco's books and the clothes he had been folding when Harry had first come over where gone. He noticed the slip of paper on the pillow next to him with just two words** 'I'm sorry'.**_

**(~~)**

After that last night, I never saw Draco again. I ventured back to the apartment the next day to find it empty and no sign of where he had gone to. The concierge didn't know and wouldn't have told me anyway. I went back every day, leaving Ginny and baby Alba alone for hours just to see if he was there.

He never came back.

I felt like a hole had been punched through my chest. My heart had been ripped out and Alba was all that kept me going. My beautiful baby girl. I almost lost her so many times. I couldn't lose her. Not now that I had almost lost everyone.

Ginny begun to suspect something from my incredible change in behaviour, but both of us were too wrapped up in caring for Alba to really focus on much else. Nor did we want to face the problems of our marriage, which unfortunately were becoming more prominent with each passing day. Hermione already knew. She expressed a small amount of sympathy when she heard Draco had disappeared but I was expected to deal and move on and play the loving husband, doting father. I talked to Ron less and less each day, his behaviour and annoyance so severe I was surprised I hadn't noticed it earlier. After twenty years of friendship, I finally began to question why we were ever friends at all.

The rest of the Weasley's were the same. I was scolded and yelled at for not caring for Alba and Ginny as well as I should. I was looked at with pity and disappointment, the fact I took months of work to care for Ginny as she got postnatal depression on top of all our problems. For being ungrateful when I had money, a wonderful house, any possession I could possibly want, a beautiful wife and finally my precious daughter.

But I could never stop thinking about what I'd lost.

The blond, who didn't care about my money, my fame. He only ever wanted me. Only me. But just me wasn't enough for anyone else.

I told Neville of Draco. I had to tell someone. He had been gone for five months before I finally broke my silence on the matter. Neville had been the one to see through my depression, caused me to break. I broke.

I explained everything. How we were reunited, how our relationship developed, how it lasted for as long as it did, how I loved him, how I was preparing to give up everything for him, and then how he left me.

At the end of my outburst, Neville had sat there, a drink in his hand, shocked at such a sudden turn of events. And then he held me as I finally cried out my despair.

Then after nine months of silence, i got word of Draco.

It wasn't the word I wanted

**{****~~]**

"_It was very sudden. He didn't feel any pain. He really just...fell asleep and didn't wake up"_

_Harry remained silent, staring at a point just beside Blaise's knee. The wizard had contacted him concerning Draco and Harry had left immediately, hoping to find the blond there._

_Draco's funeral was scheduled for the next day._

_"How?" Harry croaked out, his voice hoarse and his throat dry as the emptiness began to grow in his chest._

_Blaise shrugged, his eyes wet from unshed tears. "Muggles get unknown diseases and pass away. Wizards are just the same. The symptoms didn't show till a few days before, and by then..." Blaise trailed off._

"_Why didn't he contact me? Why didn't he let me know that he was ill? That he was dying? Why did he leave that down to you?!"_

"_He didn't know when he was going to die, Harry. They said at most he had a few months. At least...he only made it a week" Blaise finished, rubbing at his eyes with the cuff of his shirt. "But...but he wrote you this" Blaise pulled an envelope out of his pocket and passed it to the brunet. Harry felt a lump in his throat at the sight of the blond's lucrative handwriting on the front. "Just in case he didn't...I haven't read it but...I'm guessing it's what he needed to tell you"_

_Harry nodded his head shakily, as he began to open the letter with trembling fingers._

"_I'll leave you alone" Blaise grasped his should for a moment, before he rose and left Harry on his own in the room. _

_**Harry,**_

_**I am writing this letter as you sit with your daughter in the park, ignorant that I am just a few feet away from you. She is just like you, beautiful in every way. I can see how someone can love their child so desperately. Even now I can see you would do anything for her. I can see that it was good that I left. I may be cold. I may loathe those you call family, as much as they loathe me, but I couldn't do such damage to your daughter. She is part of you. She is all your good rolled up into life.**_

_**I have hidden this letter with the one person I knew would give it to you if the time of great desperation. I know I left you with such a great weight upon your shoulders. I left without a goodbye, without even a proper word. I never spoke to you enough even when I had the chance. I had hidden myself behind such a mask for so long and you were the only one I found who could take it off.**_

_**Please don't give up, Harry. Please stay strong for me. I can see the sadness in your eyes right now. It hurts me. Your girl can sense it. The baby can sense it.**_

_**By now you will know what is happening to me. Nothing can be done to change it, Harry, no matter how much I want to stay with you. Be with you for so much longer. Just a year with you, a year together felt like a lifetime, and I would give everything to spend every lifetime with you. **_

_**I don't know if you feel the same. You said you loved me and I know you spoke the truth. But the depth of what you felt is still unclear to me. **_

_**I need you to do one last thing for me. If you ever felt anything for me you will grant me this wish. Protect him. Love your daughter. Protect the most glorious things in this cruel world.**_

_**All we need to survive is one person who truly loves us. And I had you. And you have her.**_

_**I will love you.**_

_**Always**_

_**Draco**_

**(~~)**

**Corvus James Malfoy-Potter 26/11/2015. 6lbs 8oz**

**{~~}**

Ginny and I divorced once I had returned back to London. We knew eventually this would happen. I just don't think she believed that I would ever cheat on her. Especially with a man. With a Malfoy...that's what hurt her the most. Wounded her pride drastically.

The thought of being the sole carer for Alba terrified her. But she was strong. She always had been much stronger than me.

Draco had had my son. He had cared for life just as Ginny had done, and that to this day will always astound me. The thought of a male pregnancy never occurred to me even in the wizarding world. But he was here. My Corvus. I had a son and a daughter.

Draco had died giving birth to him. The extra pressure on his body of a pregnancy had been the last straw on his body and the illness had overcome him. All he saw was his son's beautiful face and with his last breath he fell asleep and never woke up again for his son, no matter how much he cried.

Luna and Blaise cared for Corvus during his first week of life until I was able to take him home myself. I take him to visit them at least once a week maybe more. They were the only ones who offered assistance and I took it gratefully; they cared for him and Draco and for that I will always be grateful.

With every passing day, Corvus is growing before my eyes. The Malfoy genes are dominant with his blond hair and even now I can see those aristocratic features that seem necessary to be a Malfoy are coming. He has my eyes. He was Draco's smile.

He knows what his Papa was like. His favourite books, colours and everything I can say about Draco I tell him. Every night, I read him a story. It seems nothing really changes.

**(~~)**

"Come on, Corvy" Harry said, taking his son's hand as they drifted between the gravestones. "We're going to go see Papa"

Corvus nodded, the bobble on the top of his woolly hat bopping along with him. In small hand was clasped a small bouquet of lilies; Draco said he always loved the flowers.

They trudged through the inches of snow, Harry picking Corvus up when he thought it became too deep, but the blond was adamant that he walked. Finally they got to their destination.

Draco's tombstone was simple. They had thought it would be best. His name, his date of birth and death. _Father of Corvus_ written across the bottom, and added underneath, _From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die. _He always remembered.

"Hi, Papa" Corvus whispered, dropping the flowers on top of the grave. Harry knelt beside his son, hugging him close. Every year, the day after Corvus' birthday, they visited Draco. Harry never wanted Corvus' birthday categorize as the day of his death, so he made sure both were always separated.

"Want to give Papa your letter? Yeah?" Harry pulled out the small envelope from his pocket and gave it to his son. "Go on" Corvus placed it beside the flowers. "He would be so proud of you, you know? Now you can write him letters just like me"

"Daddy!"

Harry glanced round and blinked in confusion.

"Daddy" Alba cried, running carefully between the gravestones towards Harry, who opened his arms instinctively. She rushed into them, a blur of assorted colours, and she giggled into his neck. Harry held her tightly, stroking the soft strands of her that poked out of the bottom of her hat. Corvus hovered by Harry's shoulder, hiding his eyes under his hat in the nervous gesture he always used when his red headed sister was so abrasive and lively. Alba extracted herself from Harry's arms, and smiled at her younger brother, using the same goofy grin she always used. Their relationship surprised the brunet most.

Despite the horrible rumours of Harry's infidelity and Corvus' parentage, being a big sister suited Alba immensely. There was only just over a year between them but he protected him from her cousins and the bullies he got, and he to her. Harry had never been more proud, even if Ginny scolded her for fighting.

Harry looked from his tanned fiery haired daughter, wearing the hat she had had since she was four and still refused to part with and her bright clothes that clashed with each other; his blonde haired pale son wearing a large coat to keep out the winter cold, and the old trainers scuffed up at the toes kneading the snow beneath his feet.

"What are you doing here, sweetie?" he asked Alba, softly. "I thought Mum wasn't dropping you off until later"

Alba gave a small smile, and pointed in the direction she had run from. Harry turned to see Ginny there, still a number of gravestones away. She was standing there in her winter coat, and large boots, her hair pulled up under a cream hat.

The years and motherhood had been good to her. She had to raise Alba on her own a great deal, while Harry had been preoccupied with raising Corvus entirely on his own, no one offering to help, losing many of the Weasley's trust and friendship.

But after meeting Corvus on one of the times Harry was allowed to take Alba for the holidays, she weakened. She said she knew how it was hard. How he loved him. And even though she wasn't happy about it and the fact he had had a child with someone else so much more easy than them having a baby, she was sorry. That he would always be able to see Alba and if he wanted she could help. She wanted to help.

He never fully had back her trust but just a part of it was ok.

She gave a small smile, the corners of her lips curling up ever so slightly.

Harry smiled, and waved back.

**THE END**

**Corvus is a constellation. Many names from Harry Potter (e.g. Scorpius, Regulus, Draco etc) were named after constellations so I decided to do it like that too. **

**This ended up far longer than I originally expected it to, and I am pretty happy with it. Please review****.**


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